Segway tourists cross over the I94 bridge above the St Croix River during "The Border crossing Segway Tour" that started in Lakeland and finished in Hudson, WI Thursday morning June 27, 2013. (Pioneer Press: John Doman)

Segway tourists cross over the I94 bridge above the St Croix River during "The Border crossing Segway Tour" that started in Lakeland and finished in Hudson, WI Thursday morning June 27, 2013. (Pioneer Press: John Doman)

Segway tourists led by Seth Tufte from Burnsville, cross over the I94 bridge above the St Croix River during "The Border crossing Segway Tour" that started in Lakeland and finished in Hudson, WI Thursday morning June 27, 2013. (Pioneer Press: John Doman)

Ben and David Praught crossed into Wisconsin in a unique way last week.

The 11-year-old twins from St. Michael, Minn., rode two-wheeled, self-balancing, battery-powered electric vehicles across the Interstate 94 Bridge. They were on a new Border Crossing Segway tour offered by All American Segway of Lakeland.

“Cool,” said David Praught after he arrived at Lakeside Park in Hudson. “It was actually pretty fun. But it was a little bit scary going over the bridge.”

Ben and David didn’t have any problems operating their Segways, which moved forward when they leaned forward and stopped when they leaned back. “I kind of wish it would go faster,” David said.

Ben, meanwhile, was lobbying their father, Brad Praught. “Dad, you should buy one of these!” he shouted as he rode by.

Brad and Deb Praught brought four of their 11 children and a niece and a nephew to Lakeland for the tour; Deb Praught said she got the idea when daily coupon specialist Groupon emailed her a deal for half-price Segway tours.

“I’ve been wanting to do a Segway tour ever since our daughter did one in St. Paul,” she said.

Brad Praught, a farmer and owner of a steel fabricating company and a flooring company, said that even though it was his first time on a Segway, he was prepared.

“I’m ready to dance. I watched ‘Mall Cop,’ so I know all of this stuff,” he said, referring to “Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” the movie which stars Kevin James as a security guard who patrols a shopping mall — and dances — on a Segway.

All American Segway, which opened this spring in the Lakeland Village shopping plaza, offers tours and rentals. Owner Ken Smith, who previously ran the business out of his house in Rochester, Minn., offers tours in and around Lakeland, Hudson, Stillwater, Afton and Apple Valley.

Smith said the tours have been popular with people of all ages. “If somebody can walk a half-mile without a cane or walker and without falling down, they can ride a Segway,” he said.

Stephanie Boegeman of Chaska said she and her husband, Dan, enjoyed the Border Crossing tour so much they would do it again — and bring their children and parents. “It was definitely a lot of fun,” she said. “What’s great about it is it’s fine for all ages.”

Boegeman said riding a Segway was amazingly easy. “It’s hard for about the first minute and a half, but then you get the hang of it,” she said. “The first couple of starts and stops seem a little awkward, but then you adjust.”

Segways are “designed so that you don’t fall on your face when you’re riding it,” Smith said. “It’s got gyroscopes in there, so if you lean too far forward it will push back on you.”

After he distributed bike helmets to the eight people on the Border Crossing tour, Smith explained how to operate the machine. “It’s very simple,” he said. “You just barely lean. The handlebars are kind of a speed-regulator for you. The faster you’re going, the closer the handlebars get to you. When they start pushing into your stomach, it means you’re going too fast.”

Although a Segway is capable of traveling 12.5 mph, Smith said he starts his groups in training mode at 6 mph and then caps them at 8 mph.

Tour leaders Seth Tufte and Rachel Meldman took the group to the shopping plaza’s back parking lot to practice starting and stopping.

“Who wants to go to first?” asked Tufte, 19, of Burnsville.

“Maybe we should watch you,” said Deb Praught.

Tufte hopped on and demonstrated. “Lean on the toes of your feet to go forward and the heels of your feet to stop,” he said. “First step is hands on the handlebar and then feet on the Segway.”

“I wasn’t nervous before, but now I am,” Deb Praught said.

When husband Brad passed by a bit too close for comfort, Deb said, “I think we need distance between us.”

“The only one we’re nervous about, Ma, is you,” he said.

By the end of the tour, Deb Praught had it down pat. “I would do it again,” she said. “Nobody fell off. They all enjoyed it equally. For me, it was a little scary, but no one else seemed to mind.”

Brad Praught said it was fun to try something new. “It’s not something you need to do every year, but everybody should do it once,” he said.

But he also admitted that he got in trouble for imitating Paul Blart.

“I was dancing on the thing with my wife,” he said. “The (tour guide) behind me chewed me out so I wouldn’t hurt myself.”

Mary Divine is a reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. She covers Washington County and the St. Croix River Valley, but has also spent time covering the state Capitol. She has won numerous journalism awards, including the Premack Award and the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists' Page One Award. Prior to joining the Pioneer Press in 1998, she worked for the Rochester, Minn., Post-Bulletin and at the St. Joseph, Mo., News-Press. Her work has also appeared in a number of magazines, including Mpls/St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Business Monthly and Minnesota Magazine. She is a graduate of Carleton College and lives in St. Paul with her husband, Greg Myers, and their three children, Henry, 16, Frances, 14, and Fred, 11.

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